Story about pre-Nazi Germany is oddly oblique

Winner of the Palme d'Or at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, German filmmaker Michael Haneke's latest is yet another look at the evil that men (and women and children) do. Set in a small, pre-World War I German-Protestant village, the ominous, chilly tone is accentuated by the use of vivid black-and-white cinematography and classically framed compositions. Grade: B.